As if to emphasise the amount of girl power involved, the "she" in Stooshe is pronounced. It is appropriate that the lairy trio's tour is starting in Scotland; a "stooshie", in local parlance, means a ruckus, and Stooshe can seem like a girl group entirely made up of Mel Bs. There is clearly more to Karis Anderson, Alex Buggs and Courtney Rumbold than just urban panto antics, but they are adept at grabbing attention.

This is a show full of face-pulling, surprised squawking and taunts lifted directly from the playground, a sustained salvo of back-of-the-bus cheekiness. The cover choices provide some respite: even Stooshe wouldn't dare stick a whoopee cushion under TLC's Waterfalls, although their version lacks edge. But for their younger fans (many, you suspect, getting their first sniff of a proper rock venue), the sheer pop chutzpah on display must feel overwhelming, like bumping into Beyoncé outside Topshop.

The women on stage may not have written the songs – leave that to project manager Jo Perry, who recruited them – but they make them their own. The toytown funk of Hoochie Mama is like Carry On meets Kanye's Gold Digger, and also features some of the best fake laughing since the Shamen's Ebeneezer Goode. Stooshe's first proper hit, Love Me, was also elevated by witty ad libs on record, and these are recreated live without sounding too canned – a hard trick to pull off.

Their debut album, due to be released last month, has been pushed back to March. The official line is that new songs are being written and recorded, but Anderson puts it more bluntly: "It's all politics you don't need to know about." Then they launch into Black Heart, a comforting aggregation of 1960s girl-group tropes. It's hard not to be charmed by their scrappy doo-wop.

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